Can a visitation timeshare calculator help you lower child support payments?
Well, a visitation timeshare calculator is something that calculates the timeshare percentage that each parent has with the children. For example, if a mother and father both split the custody time exactly in half, the timeshare percentage of each parent is fifty percent. However, because most custody and visitation schedules are not that simple, the visitation timeshare calculation is quite difficult to figure out. Parents can do the calculations themselves, or they can get a computer program (like Custody X Change) to do them.
The timeshare calculation is important because it affects the child support calculation. Pretty much every state uses some form of the timeshare percentage to determine child support (remember that every state calculates child support differently–check your state laws to know exactly how much the timeshare calculation matters). However, since this number is hard to determine, many courts and attorneys simply estimate the percentage. This means that there is a good chance that you are paying the wrong amount of child support.
So, the first step in lowering child support payments is to figure out the correct amount of support you’re supposed to pay. After that, you can use the timeshare calculator and explore some options in your visitation schedule to give you more time with the children. If your visitation timeshare increases, you’ll pay less child support. And, you’ll have more time with your children.
What if you get more time than with your kids than the court-ordered parenting plan?
First, that’s great. It’s wonderful to get more quality time. It also could impact the child support order.
If the other parent often shows up late to the exchanges, or occasionally gives you an extra overnight, or sometimes goes out of town and leaves the kids with you, or any other reason that you have the kids more time… If that’s the case, then you really need to compute exactly how much extra time you’ve been getting.
A little time here and a little time there can really add up.
And more time could mean a more favorable child support order.
With Custody X Change, you can visually enter on a calendar each modified exchange, and it will compute the percentages for you. It will also produce a report that proves the percentages and shows the reasons you entered for each difference. If you have a greater time-share with the children, then you can lower your child support payments. If you are receiving support, you should get more money if you have extra time.
The trial version of the Custody X Change software will let you put in all your tracking information and start journaling. You can then see how much those extra times will impact your overall time.
Do you know why many child support orders are incorrectly calculated?
First, child support is based primarily on two things (depends on where you live though):
- How much the parents make
- How much time each parent gets (timeshare percentage or overnight percentage)
It’s easy to figure out how much money each parent makes. You just ask the employers. The tricky part of the formula that gets messed up is the time-share percentage / overnight percentage.
The reason being is that custody schedules can be complicated. A typical schedule can look like this:
- 1st, 3rd, and alternating 5th weekends;
- Tuesday night with the parent who has the weekend, Wednesday night with the parent who doesn’t;
- Alternating weeks during summer and winter break;
- Ten or so holidays that each gets swapped even/odd, and each has their own times for drop-off and pick-up;
- And, special events and birthdays that are swapped every other year.
Without software to accurately compute all of those times, courts, mediators, and even attorneys usually just short-hand guess at it.
But plugging an estimated time-share / overnight percentage into the child support formula can make the child support order incorrect.
That’s why you need Custody X Change in order to use your state’s child support software.
With Custody X Change, you just put all that scheduling information into the software, choose your dates, and the software computes the percentages precisely and accurately.
And it goes one step further than just computing the numbers. It lets you see which small tweaks to the schedule can make a large impact to timeshare. This can help lower your child support, or help you get the fair money to raise your child.
The trial version of the Custody X Change software will let you input your schedule and it will show your plan’s percentages. Please try it out.
If you are paying or receiving child support, you want to make sure that the amount being paid is accurate. It can be difficult to know if the amount is correct, because every state has different laws about how child support is calculated. Fortunately, every state now uses child support software to figure out how much child support should be paid. This software is available to parents so they can do the child support calculations.
It’s great that the states now use software to caluculate the amount of child support. This drastically reduces the number of errors in those calculations. However, there is something you should watch for as you enter your numbers into your state’s child support software.
Pretty much every state bases some part of the child support on the time-share or overnight percentage that the child has with each parent. It is vital to have the correct time-share and overnight percentage for these calculations. You would think that the courts would find a way to get the right percentages so the child support is correct. However, the courts don’t do that. Many courts make a guess and estimate the amount of time-share percentage the parents have with the children. They do this because it is too time consuming to do all of those calculations. But, doing those calculations can save you money or get you more money in child support.
To make sure the child support software helps you get the right amount, you need to figure out the time-share percentage. Fortunately, there is now a program that figures this out for you. Custody X Change gives you the time-share and overnight percentage that each parent has with the children after you put your custody schedule in. You can then use this with your child support software to get the right amount. You can also give this correct number to the court to make sure the calculations there are right. And, if you are looking for ways to lower your child support, you can experiment with different time-share percentages that lower your support. If you know that you need a certain amount more of time with your child, you can use Custody X Change to come up with a new schedule.
So, Custody X Change is the software to have in conjunction with your child support software. This will help you know you’re paying or receiving the right amount of money to support your child.
